@ philthehip

I’m on NTL broadband through my set top box (ex nynex, ex cable and wireless customer)

The Mail scanner section of avast4.ini is

[MailScanner]
DefaultPopServer=pop.ntlworld.com
DefaultSmtpServer=smtp.ntlworld.com
ShowTrayIcon=1
UseDefaultSmtp=0
AutoSetProtection=1

This works fine for me with Thunderbird as my email client and adds the notes also.

You might try reading some of the mail problems posted in the NTHell forums

www.nthellworld.co.uk

for some possible links. NTL are famous (infamous) for repeated email problems. You can also check your connection status and maintenance work here

http://www.ntl-isp.ntl.com/ServiceStatus/